This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

"Everyone's done it like this," Núñez said of previous legislative leaders. "The difference is there are some in politics who want to judge me in a certain manner.

"Because of the fact I am Mexican, they think I have to sleep under a cactus and eat from taco stands."

Hey Stupid Ass, you may get away playing the racial card with the Gringos, Bro, but not with me. You know full well no one expects you to sleep under a cactus and eat at a taco truck, although the latter sounds like a damn fine option to me, but then... I'm not used to $$$$$$ meals at the French Laundry.

Nice way to race bait, tho'.

"The only thing that really results out of this is that groups that don't like Latinos use this as a weapon to inflame anti-Mexican, anti-Latino politics," he said.

Say, Whaaaat?

What the hell are you talking about? You get called out for your spending--money that was entrusted to you by the people of California [ed. my bad, I meant CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS]-- and right away you go crying like a little boy, hiding behind your abuelitas skirts... blaming the White Man for beating you down?

Grow up, Fabian. Be a man and own up to the fact that you blew it. Plain and simple. Pendejo. Sin Vergüenza!

Mayor Sam said: Could race and ethnicity be the same? I've heard of African Americans and Mexicans being accused of "acting white." I have a Pinoy friend who's been accused of being a "coconut" by other Pilipinos.

Can't we just be? Does race still have to matter?

Mayor Sam:

Weren't we burros just talking about this very subject this week?

Leticia is a perfect example of what I was talking about; that whole attitude that if you don't fall in line with whatever the currect "race issue" thinking is, you're a sell-out, a wannabe whitey, etc., etc. Your race must be defended no matter what; and that just doesn't fly with me. Sorry. I enjoy thinking for myself, regardless of race, based on facts and not racial "loyalty".

Ugh.

I'm so sick of it.

And guess what -- it's a sword that cuts both ways: the gavachos always want to know if my mom or my dad was white, because I HAVE to be half-caucasion because my speaking voice is void of any hispanic inflection; and because of my seemingly esoteric choices in everything else I do-- I MUST not be 100% hispanic. But I am, and I hate being judged from both sides.

"Leticia is a perfect example of what I was talking about; that whole attitude that if you don't fall in line with whatever the currect "race issue" thinking is, you're a sell-out, a wannabe whitey, etc., etc. Your race must be defended no matter what; and that just doesn't fly with me. Sorry. I enjoy thinking for myself, regardless of race, based on facts and not racial "loyalty".

VDoll, ugly pressure to conform ostensibly based in ethnicity or race is far from unique to Los Angeles.

The following happened in a place where the same pressure, maybe even to a higher degree, is pervasive:

A little over a decade ago, I was walking down the hall of a higher education institution in Louisiana when an African American boy roughly 15 years old approached me and said something to me; he asked me a question. I have lots and lots of Deep South relatives and I had been in Louisiana for five years at the time, so the local accent and dialect were very natural to me. But what this young man was asking me was completely unintelligible. Completely. So I stopped and asked him to repeat his question. He did. And I still didn't. So after almost five minutes and many repeats of the question, I finally realized he was asking me.... "What time it is?" with such affected speech that it was imposible to understand. I read my watch and he went on his way. But I was left stunned. The kid wasn't messing with me, this was really how he communicated.

So here was a boy, nearly a man, walking through a major university who didn't stand a chance of having a mainstream job that required basic communication skills of any kind.

This boy's poor future outlook as it appeared at that moment in time had been determined for him by local cultural pressure. It was very upsetting. I'm still really bothered by it. It was rampant in my apartment complex community. I had a number of very good friends who were African American and who's speaking skills were nearly as poor. Community pressure of the type Valley Doll mentions -- Submit or Be Ostracized -- was absolutely indemic, with this terrible impact to this community.

We need to stay vigilant and keep him out of any other office! I also heard on the news that his supporters believe his "mistakes" should be overlooked because he has done so much good while in office. That is bull! We paid him handsomly to do a "good job" while in office! Why should he be rewarded for pilfering campaign donation money for his "high life style." Let's send a message and let elected officials know we won't put up with this!

There's a report on this in L A Weekly's Daily Blog by Jill Stewart, and someone from Nunez' camp writes in a comment highly critical of her work in general, and claiming they've gotten thousands of racist emails; Stewart replies to him in kind, it's a curiously heated exchange.

Another Ass of the Week: today Jan Perry hauled in the DWP staff to tell them she couldn't approve their request for some improvement that they said was essential to helping respond to emergency outages, because it was an outside contract she hadn't vetted personally. Quite odd to express No Confidence in Nihai so publicly -- is there something going crazy with her hormones lately, maybe?

She also got wildly heated during the hospital dumping debate, calling the other side "liars" who were gossiping about her, and recently accused billboard activists who used the common term "Dog and Pony Show" of "calling your brothers and sisters dogs and ponies...comparing them to animals... see, these are the kinds of people I've been dealing with."

She's even more wildly emotional than Bill Rosendahl, who's more of a woman than Hahn or Greuel; since Jan Perry started wearing those hats, banning fast food restaurants has become one of her saner moments.

All those idiot Latino politicans use their race for anything they can. How do you think they got in? They are the most corrupt of all and an embarrassement to all Latinos.

Today's LA Slimes hits DWP hard........DWP official's work for contractors comes under fireAgency's new chief operating officer consulted most of last year to firms with major water and power contracts, which troubles some L.A. council members.By David Zahniser........A top executive hired to run day-to-day operations at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has come under fire as the latest example of the revolving door between city government and businesses that seek lucrative public contracts.

Before returning to the DWP in December after a six-year absence, Raman Raj, who earns $247,000 annually as the utility's chief operating officer, worked most of last year as a consultant for at least three DWP contractors. He also worked for a company being discussed as the possible subject of a lawsuit over a 2005 power outage.

DWP General Manager H. David Nahai said Raj has "religiously" avoided any discussions of those companies, stepping out of the room on three occasions since Dec. 1, the day he took the job.

"How about some dessert, Monsieur Speakeur Nunez?"Put it in a doggie bag. Pour les enfants, you know."

For those of you readers outside the state of California, you should give thanks that you don't have Fabian Nunez (D) in your state. Nunez is the current speaker of the state assembly in Sacramento. Fortunately, he will be termed out at the end of 2008, at which time, he will land in some cushy job as a lobbyist or commissioner of some government boondoggle. Few politicians have used their political position to live such a luxuriant lifestyle as Fabian Nunez. This week, Nunez, who has drawn fire for his personal lifestyle, threw out "ye olde race card" to defend his profligate spending habits-all in the name of the citizens of California.

Of course, Nunez is everything you would expect of a liberal Socialist politician. Born in the San Diego area, Nunez spent his college years in MECHA, the activist Mexican-American university organization that, among other things, believes that the American Southwest should revert back to Mexico. He is a liberal activist who believes in more government programs and more taxes to pay for them. Last year,he and his fellow political hack, Don Perata (D), authored a bill to extend their terms in office while trying to fool the voters into thinking it was a term limits bill. Fortunately, it was rejected by the voters. If you watched any of Hillary's campaign rallies in California, you may have seen him on the stage with her along with our other embarrassment and possible future governor, Antonio Villaraigosa, the erstwhile Mayor of LA, with whom Fabby has shared a mistress).

As stated, Nunez lives high off the hog as speaker of the assembly. Last year, it was publicized that he has made several trips to Europe in the name of his official duties, flies first class, stays in 5-star hotels and treats himself to lavish meals while meeting with whomever he is supposed to meet with. For example, problems with California's educational system? (You bet'cha) The solution is to gallivant off to France (Paris-the Bordeaux region) and consult with French school officials who surely have the secret to educating our schoolkids, gangbangers and others who can't speak English. Of course, it is also necessary to bring back cases of the most expensive French wines in the process, which he can turn around and sell.

So now, after months of embarrassing publicity, Nunez, this week, gave an interview to Univision's (Spanish-language) Voz y Voto (Voice and Vote) in which he defended his actions by playing the race card.

According to Fabian, the criticism is all because he is a Mexican (not a Mexican-American-a Mexican). Nunez also told Univision that his critics think that "just because he is a Mexican, that he should be expected to "sleep under a cactus and eat at a taco stand". Surprisingly, Nunez didn't add that he should be expected to drink Dos X instead of fine Bordeaux wines-or sneak into France illegally hidden in the trunk of a car.

These comments have drawn howls of derision from his enemies including many Mexican-Americans who consider Nunez to be an embarrassment. Nevertheless, he is far from the only joke we have in public office in California. And what does our famous governor, the "Republican", Arnold Schwarzenegger, think of Fabby? Why they get along "fabulously" (pun intended), especially since Anabolic Arnie gave up fighting the Dems and joined them in their wild spending.

Once the laughter from this lame excuse dies down, Nunez can try another excuse-one that usually works: He can always say that "he did it for the children".